hi, i was one of the pilots flying in the movie. i always regard the time as the best 3 months in my life. the zero replicas were constructed at la ferte allais near paris to the design from tora tora tora . there were 3 flyers and the rest non flyers. initially the cannons were made from wood for lightness , but down in spain charles bishop the art director insisted that we had them done in metal . the extra weight put the centre of gravity to far forward, so we had to ballast the tail.
i was windy of doing aerobatics because of this, but tom used to loop and roll them. the p 51 pilots were ray hanna, mark hanna and hoof proudfoot.
on the zero replicas there was tom danaher, steve bolan and myself . victor kriz also did a little.
the very best bit of flying was cut. i was supposed to get airborne and be shot down by hoof in the p 51. tom asked me if he could do it, and of course i agreed. we knew it would be good. when hoof made a pass at him, tom was on the mustang's tail in 45 seconds, and there was nothing hoof could do to shake him off. it all happened at around 300 feet.it was about the most exciting bit of flying i ever saw. you do not become an ace for nothing, and tom got 3 in one day.
the bombs were filled with plaster for weight, and ray put them through the hangar front. if you watch you will see a 50 gallon barrel flying up through the roof. this was done by cutting the bottom out of it, and placing it over a bucket of avgas. 3 sticks of gelignite were hung above the bucket.
there are only 3 of us left alive now. alan